What is an Angel?
by PleaseSmile
Summary: "The fire never stops"..."Then find a source of water"..."You know what I mean!"..."I can only do as my master orders, you know"..."But that thing will kill your food, not to mention all those people"..."You expect a demon to care for others' safety?"..."If not for them or yourself, doing something, anything, for my sanity!"..."I'm not a hero"..."To me you are, you will be."
1. This Time, Fire

_Dream of _

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A soft breeze teased the clouds slowly across the sky. Hills of various green spread away from a sturdy barn house. A lengthy cottage sat next to the barn, approaching the dirt road along a tall wooden beamed fence. The sun warmed the fur of the sheep, horses, cows, and goats strolling on the fields. There was so much space that even if the horses galloped speedily they would never reach the neighboring mountain that overlooked a coast. Every now and again a young billy would venture too close to the only crop field and be shooed away by glittering figures. Invisible hands pushed aside soil and planted seeds of a variety. Sometime a song was heard from the crop field and a solitary horse would stop its thoughtful grazing to listen. All the farm creatures new what, or who was working in the field today. They hadn't seen a human till the soil in twenty two years. The owners of the farm were lucky, the sheep thought, who knew a new such a blessing would be born into their midst. The cause of this musing was currently laying in a patch of dense grass, under the branches of an ancient tree that marked the beginning the small wood beside the farm.

Choking, I was choking! Who could live in such a smoggy town like this? This scene never changed since the first time I saw it. Crowded buildings lined the street as a trade fair took place in the main square. I was being pushed by the throng of people again, headed towards the fair. No, please, not there… Not where I can see the darkening sky, devoid of clouds. I escaped the masses of well to do gentlemen and womenfolk, landing on a bench against the wall. I didn't want to sit here again; I would witness the same event again. I attempted to clear the air of the smog, and sat down on the metal beam. I was cold too, and didn't the townspeople know that they would be killed? The white mass would come to devour their souls and no amount of screaming would cease its spreading. I scooted to the corner of the bench and huddled my knees close. Black and white whizzed by me in blur before scattering people in the fair, the sounds of protest lost to an awful echo of curses. I grabbed at my hair and attempted to stop myself from sinking into panic. I knew this part very well, and my presence had no part in what would transpire. Footsteps, shouts, barking, wailing, clanging, and screeching created a din around me. The chill I felt had no connection to harsh air twisting around this world. With the cold came the white thing… It reached foggy tentacles past me, coming only inches past my face to latch onto an innocent child. I watched this time the first victim became a kid, their mouth twisting open to… No, I can't look… If I see the dying all over again maybe this time the thing will notice me too! I scrunched my eyes closed and covered my mouth with both hands. The sounds I could deal with, but not the sight of injured people. I started to rock back and forth, waiting for the scene to end. It had to! Amidst the screams came a new sound, so new that I didn't remember it. I slid my eyes open and looked around, this wasn't supposed to happen. By now I would wake and….and…someone was laughing! Who laughs when everyone is dying? For goodness sake! With what courage I had left I stood from my shelter and glanced around for the source of the intruder to this part. I didn't flinch when a man ran through me; after all I was but a wraith in this dream. But the man, or women, standing smack dab center in the square was laughing! It or they held their hands up in rapture, as they were enjoying the din of tortured souls. _They_ were old; I noticed the off gray hair and sooty clothing. I shouted at the person to stop laughing, stop everything! Maybe _they_ were responsible for bringing me here, to this nightmare. The _person_ stopped laughing only to stare through me, despite never getting used to that feeling I turned to see what caught this figments' attention. Fire. Fire was spreading into the square, and it brought with it a sick rotten smell. I held my breath and covered my mouth again, this time with one hand while the other clutched at my chest. My eyes widened in horror as the fire itself began consuming peoples flesh. Their screaming reached another octave of pain in my ears. My stomach roiled and my eyes burned from the cold. How could fire be cold? But it was colder at my back, and I trembled as I twisted around. _It_ drew closer than before and in my face! I yelped my shock and scuttled away, tripped and stared up at the thing above me. The face before me would have been attractive if not for the inhuman mouth spreading from ear to hairline. The blood in my veins froze as the thing screamed gleefully down at me.

"London bridge is falling down!"

I wailed in fright as a vacuum of fire barricaded around me and then….black.

A silent scream died in my heart as I sat up from the grass. I could still feel the cold flames through the breeze of the day. My heart thumped greedily and I wiped away at the sweat that formed on my face.

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Black Butler aka Kuroshitsuji belongs to** (C)**Yana Toboso

Reviews are beloved


	2. Hugger

Tree

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Sure the sun was glowing in the sky, and the breeze gently lifted my hair. There was a darkness growing in my center that I couldn't name, it made me want to curl up and cry. I brought my legs in and leaned downhill to stand; the tree grew silently to my left. The branches reached impossibly long and down and swayed greenery around my shoulders. I leaned to my head on one retreating branch and thanked it. The tree then resumed its normal sentry position on the hill top and urged me to go forth. I sighed and walked back home, not just a house but a true home. Not only was I surrounded by hills and creatures, but my home was truly special. I stopped by a number of grazing cows and answered their flick of a tail question.

"Yeah, 'nother bad dream. I'm gonna talk to ma again."

I stepped past the baby lamb as it tried to but my legs, and performed a double look at the billies with their horns tangled again.

Yet these things could not distract me from the haunting images in my mind.

As I neared the barn my lips thinned to a line, and my fists squeezed tight. I would to get to the bottom of these episodes, even if I had to sail around all the islands to figure them out. I powered past the barn yard and approached the cottage; slid inside the kitchen entrance and stepped through into a main hallway. I ignored the doors through the house and paused at the entrance to a parlor room facing the main rode. I knocked on the door frame before walking past an empty tea set and approached the lady sitting by the bay window.

The lady didn't even raise her head until I stood right beside her, and I 'ahemmed'.

"Heavens! Lass! You near scared me to peels!" The lady dramatically flung her hand by her forehead.

"I did knock..."

"I thought that was a woodpecker?" The lady dropped a pencil from her face and used the other twist around in her seat. Behind her sketches of hats and shawls the sunlight illuminated the sewing machine to one side of the table. "What's wrong deary?"

"Ma, I need to do figure out something about...my dreams. I must investigate these...visions during my sleeping hours."

"Oh darling." The lady rose from her chair and wrapped her arms around me. "You know I would help you any way I could."

I sighed into the lady's embrace, and hung onto the back of her arms with my hands.

"We couldn't bring the crone, she would have scared the village on the way in." We parted, but the lady kept her hands on my shoulders. "You remember what the Sidhe told you by the river, that you might be developing the sight? Although you never did travel to any crowded town."

My shoulders tensed and I whispered. "But someone invaded the vision this time, a spirit that felt cold and cruel. It laughed as the people...the people were burning in the fire and and..."

My voice died somewhere in my throat and I breathes sharply through my nose. I looked up at the lady and leaned my head on her arm. "I don't want to sit around and wait for something like that to happen. I just know that a simple fire doesn't start on its own accord. Someone will set that fire, and I..."

"You wish to prevent that fire." The lady before me finished. I nodded, then rolled my shoulders and stepped away.

"The only way I can do that is by going there myself."

The lady appraised me silently, "Do you know where to start?"

I bowed my head and looked back up, "Yes, I'll talk to Benny."

"A wonderful start! Do you think you'll be traveling rite away?"

"Yes."

"Well then, let me get a message ready for your father. Don't forget to tell the Sidhe you're leaving."

"Right," I responded.

The lady gave my arm an affectionate squeeze before turning back to her window. She slid open a pane and called into the air. I stepped out of the room and heard more than saw the bird that refused to forgo ceremony so would always land on the bird post instead of just hopping on the window sill.

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Black Butler aka Kuroshitsuji belongs to** (C)**Yana Toboso

Reviews are beloved


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